I have learned so much from working with other poets, travelling and reading with them, spending days discussing poems in progress. There is the sense that we are all, as writers, part of something which is more powerful than any…

Quote by Helen Dunmore

Topics: Helen Dunmore Quotes

Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because...

Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because...

I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel...

I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel...

To try to expunge an individual's history is a terrible violation.

To try to expunge an individual's history is a terrible violation.

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with...

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with...

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to...

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to...

Writing children's books gives a writer a very strong sense of narrative drive.

Writing children's books gives a writer a very strong sense of narrative drive.

My first collection of poems was published by Bloodaxe Books, which was then a very...

My first collection of poems was published by Bloodaxe Books, which was then a very...

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to...

A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to...

I was always influenced by language.

I was always influenced by language.

Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.

Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.

I would like people to come into my Dreamworld and then choose to stay.

I would like people to come into my Dreamworld and then choose to stay.

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the...

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the...

I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.

I could start with Mandelstam, who was a huge influence on my early writing.

Poets go through a very tough apprenticeship in the use of words.

Poets go through a very tough apprenticeship in the use of words.

The language has got to be fully alive - I can't bear dull, flaccid writing...

The language has got to be fully alive - I can't bear dull, flaccid writing...

It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do...

It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do...

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early...

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early...

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was...

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was...

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed...

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed...

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves -...

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves -...